Meet our Psychology Faculty

Prior to joining The University of Law, Julie was a Reader and programme lead at The University of Bolton. Julie has experience in the design and delivery of psychology programmes.

In addition to her leadership role at The University of Law, Julie is co-editor of the Mental Health and Social Inclusion journal, on the Education Advisory Board for the British Journal of Guidance and Counselling and section editor for JMIR Mental Health.

Julie’s research looks at how digital innovations can support mental health, with a focus in the area of online counselling, VR, computer games and mobile apps. Her recent research is considering how AI can be utilised to support students teaching and learning as well as support mental health.

Julie has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles, books, book chapters, reports and research presentations. For a full list of publications visit her profile on research gate, a sample of her publications is listed below. 

Books Published:

• Digital Technologies and Positive Psychology (Positive Psychology in Practice). Barnes, S., & Prescott, J. (2024) Emerald, London.
• A New App for Identity Structure Analysis and Professional Development. Passmore, G., & Prescott, J. (2022). Palgrave; London. 
• Digital innovations in mental health. Prescott, J. (2022). IGI Global. Hershey, Pennsylvania. 
• Identity Structure Analysis: A new approach to mentorship and teacher turnover. Passmore, G., Prescott, J., & Turner, A. (2019). Palgrave; London 
• Handbook of Research on Race, Gender, and the Fight for Equality. Prescott, J. (2016). IGI Global. Hershey, Pennsylvania.   
• Gender Considerations and Influence in the Digital Media and Gaming Industry. Prescott, J., & McGurren, J.E (Eds) (2014). IGI Global. Hershey, Pennsylvania. 
• Gender Divide and the Computer Gaming Industry. Prescott, J., & Bogg, J. (2014). IGI Global. Hershey, Pennsylvania. 
• Gendered Occupational Differences in Science, Engineering, and Technology Careers. Prescott, J., & Bogg, J. (2012). IGI Global. Hershey, Pennsylvania. 

Joanne has taught Psychology at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and more recently she has led collaborative health professions courses. This involved teaching students who were pursuing health careers such as nursing, social work and occupational therapy. She has also mentored student teachers.

Joanne’s main research interest lies in health and wellbeing, both in applied settings and everyday life. She has also done research related to educational settings and is keen to explore potential gender differences in experiences. She has also published related work which emphasised the therapeutic potential of the school environment to promote wellbeing for staff (this paper received an Emerald Literati Award). 

For her PhD, Joanne combined her interests and explored motivation, stress and job satisfaction in the teaching profession.

Passionate about how Psychology can be applied to understand health and wellbeing, Joanne is fascinated in how this relates to the lived experience and its wider domains.

Example publications:

• Vaughan, J., Boduszek, D., & Rodriguez, A, M. (2018). 'The secondary school as a therapeutic community', Therapeutic Communities: The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities. 39 (3), 109-117. 
• Tobbell, J., Boduszek, D., Kola-Palmer, S., Vaughan, J., & Hargreaves, J. (2018). 'Evaluating service user pedagogy in UK higher education: Validating the Huddersfield Service User Pedagogy Scale', Nurse Education Today. 63, 81-86. 
• Vaughan, J., Boduszek, D., & Rodriguez, A. (2015). 'Factors influencing subject selection in upper secondary education (Key Stage 4) for males and females in England'. Current Issues in Personality Psychology. 3 (3), 1-12. 

Mark’s area of research and study is the science of personal development. Of particular interest is how we set goals, reflect on our performance whilst considering feedback. These ideas feed in to how we manage ourselves on goal related tasks and how we develop as lifelong learners.

Before returning to undergraduate education, Mark was a Senior Manager in a Local Authority which sparked his interest in the science of personal and professional development. Moving on to study Applied Psychology at undergraduate level, Mark’s research project focused on his area of passion - personality and individual differences in relation to learning. Developing this through Mark’s doctoral studies his PhD project focused on how individuals self-manage during learning, either in education or the workplace.

Mark’s research interests are strongly influenced by individual differences, particularly in self-regulatory behaviours that promote successful learning outcomes, that also support them in graduate careers. Mark continues to research in the area of feedback literacy, working alongside colleagues internationally to develop survey instruments about attitudes to feedback and goals. He continues research partnerships with The University of Liverpool Dental school and has a keen interest in the area of psychometrics. 

Example publications: 

• Smith, P. M., Bowles, J., Jellicoe, M., Mathur, M., Molyneux, L., Randell L. A., Smith, R. N., & Valappil, S. P. (2023). Introducing open-book examinations in clinical education: A case study. Developing Academic Practice, 2023(Special), 71-81. 
• Gartshore, L., Bowles, J., Jellicoe, M., Burnside, G., Dawson, L.J. & Bissell, V., (2022) Online Unproctored Clinical Examinations: The Perceptions and Performance of Final Year Dental Students. Dentistry Journal, 10(11), 200.
• Roberts, A., Jellicoe, M., & Fox, K. (2021). How does a move towards a coaching approach impact the delivery of written feedback in undergraduate clinical education? Advances in Health Sciences Education, 1-15. 

Jonny’s research specialism is addressing factors that affect bystander intervention into sexual violence.

With a passion for Forensic Psychology born from a childhood of reading comics and watching Star Wars, Jonny has always been fascinated by what makes the villain a villain. This led him to pursue a path where he could make a positive contribution to the world. Between his MSc and PhD Jonny worked with sexual offenders at HMYOI Wetherby. He often found these to be the most interesting young people to work with, in order to discover more about the prevention of sexual violence.

Jonny’s research interest is addressing how different factors impact bystander intervention into sexual violence, most prominently, alcohol. Using a mixed methods approach to examine whether these factors have an impact on a bystander’s intervention behaviour, and if so, how. 

Publications: 

• Macklin, A., Noret, N., Douglass, M., Hillyard, S., & Dudley, J. (2021). Does knowledge matter? The relationship between awareness of sexual violence and bystander self-efficacy. American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 39 (4).

A lecturer in Psychology for more than 15 years, Lizzie’s PhD was conducted at UCL followed by posts at the University of Derby and University of Leicester.

Lizzie’s research interests have included understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the retrieval of emotional information through a cognitive neuroscience approach (fMRI, ERP). In recently funded research Lizzie has investigated gender imbalance in Undergraduate Psychology and the transition between school and Higher Education in Psychology.

More recently Lizzie has developed a keen interested in pedagogic research and in enhancing teaching practice through exploring the effect of contemporary technology use to innovate teaching delivery and assessment/feedback (and its resulting impact on student achievement and engagement).

Professionally Lizzie has participated in academic consultancy and public sector engagement (including media liaising) among other posts. Her four-legged friend, Labrador JB, currently volunteers alongside her in Pets as Therapy (PAT dog) placements.

Example publications:

• Maratos, E.J., and Rugg, M.D., (2001). Electrophysiological correlates of the retrieval of emotional and non-emotional context. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 13 (7), 877-91. *1660
• Maratos, E.J., Dolan, R.J., Morris, JS, Henson, R, Rugg, M.D., (2001). Neural activity associated with episodic memory for emotional context. Neuropsychologia, 910(1), 910-920. *445
• Maratos, E.J., Allan, K., & Rugg, M.D. (2000). Recognition memory for emotionally negative and neutral words: an ERP Study. Neuropsychologia, 38(11), 1452-1465. *293

Patrick’s enthusiasm for Psychology comes from the desire to understand the complexities of human function, turning this information into therapeutic solutions to help improve the quality of life of patients. Having previously worked at De Montfort University as a Psychology Technician, Patrick has developed extensive experience of using key Psychology software and equipment.

Of particular interest to Patrick is the plasticity of the brain and how it can adapt to overcome damage and/or disease and maintain cognitive functions despite trauma. He has been involved in several Cognitive Psychology related lab studies for supporting research into the SNARC (Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes) effect, and the study of reengaging motor regions using transcranial electrical stimulation and its effectiveness as a form of therapeutic intervention.

Publications: 

• Prpic, V., & Cullen, P. (2019). Does Visual Perspective Taking Influence the SNARC Effect? ESCoP 2019, Tenerife (Spain), Leuven (Belgium) and Trieste (Italy).

Prior to joining us here at The University of Law Bethany was an Administrative Officer at the University of Surrey in the Faculty of Health and Medical Science.

Bethany will be providing administrative support to colleagues here in the Psychology team as the courses grow, contributing to an outstanding student experience and ensuring administrative arrangements comply with the University’s academic cycle for each stage of the students’ journey.